


Everything Wrong With How I Met Your Mother

by mattthedungeonbat



Series: HIMYM Critical [1]
Category: How I Met Your Mother
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26626744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattthedungeonbat/pseuds/mattthedungeonbat
Summary: A series of freeform essays reflecting on the themes and messages of How I Met Your Mother, as an old fan who has since grown up
Series: HIMYM Critical [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937038
Kudos: 2





	Everything Wrong With How I Met Your Mother

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is going to get salty at times. VERY salty

Hi everyone, welcome to the show.

A little backstory. I was introduced to How I Met Your Mother at age 15. I thought it was pretty funny back then. My favorite character was Barney. The thing is, I’m 21 now, and just a tiny bit more grown up. I tried to go back to watch this show I had binged again and again as a kid and realized, to my horror, that it was kind of terrible. I had laughed at some honestly horrible jokes, and agreed with some incredibly bad explanations. So this is my attempt to undo all of that; to go back through and actually think about the subtext of the writing, and the messages it spread.

This is a companion series to How I Met Myself, a story in which the reader, only reading Barney’s spoken words, hears him recount his story of what went on behind the scenes of Ted’s story and how he ultimately grew up as a person, split from his toxic relationships, and finally met himself. That story is very fun for me, because the writing style is a great challenge and Barney is still a character I enjoy. However, I’ve found myself unable to write it because I just  _ desperately  _ want to roast Ted and the show, thus slipping out of Barney’s voice. So, reading this series is NOT necessary to understand How I Met Myself, but it may contain much more detailed explanations and my own personal musings and opinions, which won’t be in Barney’s story.

I know this isn’t quite what you’d call “fanfic” but I feel like in certain fandoms this kind of critical thinking is still very necessary. If you disagree with any of my points, good! Think about why. Question everyone, including me, including yourself. If you agree with my points, I would love to hear your personal opinions on them! I haven’t been able to find much discussion of what was actually wrong with this show. I want to know if any old fans grew up like I did, and realized the errors of their pasts.

Thank you so much for reading, if you do! Enjoy <3


End file.
